Forgotten (31 page)

Saul knotted
his own hands in a fist-like shape, and then thrust a colossal blow
directly under the mammoth’s chin. The mammoth fell backwards,
moaning, curling. Saul leapt behind him, grabbed his head and with
one small twist, stilled the beast.

I stood stunned.

Who the hell was this man
?

And to think that only minutes earlier I had
questioned if Saul could even take the monster on.

Saul
collected his knife and the mammoth’s gun. I gathered up the other
gun near Moron’s still groaning body and then raced out to join
Saul. His good arm swung around me, his head laid on mine. “Why is
it when I
want
you to run and hide, you don’t.”

I laughed.

He kissed
the top of my head. “What about the other guy?” I was just about to
reply when a familiar voice resonated from the
scrubland.

Ethan. “Oh
no, you don’t,” he said. With a sizeable-rifle in his hand, he
dragged the now conscious bald man by his shirt collar. Moron was
hysterical, wrestling to free himself, screaming something
about
getting the
bitch
.

I smiled, smugly.

“Get your ugly butt back over here, matey.”
Ethan threw him on the ground near the mammoth. He then used the
stump of his rifle and struck him hard enough to return him to a
dazed state. Blood dribbled from Ethan’s lip, a reddish bruise had
developed on his cheek. Other than that, he appeared okay.

“Tad late,” Saul said.

“
Been
dancing with a gypsy, mate, except he really needed to practice his
two-step.” Ethan pulled out a set of handcuffs from his small,
khaki backpack and chucked them to Saul. Saul used them to secure
the mammoth’s hands. Ethan slapped a second set on Moron, and then
bent to examine Moron’s head wound. “Hey, Angel, are you
responsible for this?”

My
‘yes’ was full of pride.

“Sweet,” he chuckled.

“A third man?” Saul slumped against the huge
rock. His face was pallid. He was still losing blood. I handed
Moron’s gun to Ethan and knelt down to look at Saul’s wound.

“Uh huh,” Ethan replied. “And where there
are three….”

“
There could
be four or more.”

“Why so many? All they wanted was me.” Dried
blood had fastened parts of Saul’s shirt.

“
We
obviously have a reputation,” Ethan said with a
wicked half-grin.

“Got to get out of here, Ethan.” Saul
grimaced as I took a closer look at his wound.

“
No. We have
to stop the bleeding first,” I said.

Ethan bent closer. “Redecorating your shirt,
my friend.” He ripped the sleeve apart. It revealed an ugly, black
gouge, orbited by purplish swelling. Blood dribbled down a solitary
track.

“Thought the shirt made my skin look pale,”
Saul said. “Anyway, it’s only a scratch.”

Ethan inspected the wound more closely. “Bit
more than a scratch.” He dug out a roll of stretch bandage from his
pack and flung it to me. “Here, Angel, wrap it firmly. It’ll do
till we get someone to look at it.”

Saul sat watching me as I dressed his wound,
occasionally brushing wayward hair from my face. Every now and
again, our eyes would catch and I could feel myself blushing. The
attention didn’t go unnoticed.

“
I take it
this means we have talked and we’re all friends now?” Ethan
said.

“No talking yet,” I said, “but yes, all
friends.”

“
Talking’s
overrated, anyhow.”
Ethan lifted his face
and wiped some blood off it.

That’s when
I noticed a well-worn, but ugly scar running beneath his chin. I
pushed the scar to the
later
on
file. Bandage on, I helped Saul
up.

“
What’s the
plan?
” Ethan asked, still guarding the
two semi-unconscious men.

“
Signal our
guys to get here.” Saul returned his switchblade to its rightful
place, and then inspected the mammoth’s gun for bullets. “And
explore the grounds for others. We have no idea how many there
are.”

“Contacted our buddies already. They should
be here soon.”

Ethan pulled out a small handgun from his
pack and offered it to me. I took it, twisting it back and forth.
He wanted to show me how to use it. But there was no need. I
mechanically ejected the magazine, checked the bullets and once
satisfied, snapped it closed.

Both men appeared thunderstruck.

“What?” I said. “I learned how to use one of
these when I was only a….” I stopped and grimaced.

Shit! What was I saying?

Ethan rubbed
the back of his head. “Well, of course you did; somewhere between
learning to recite the alphabet and counting to twenty. It’s
certainly going to be
my
number one priority if I ever have a kid.” He
looked at Saul. “You’ve got your hands full here. She’s
beautiful
and
dangerous. And you were worried about
keeping
her
safe!”

Saul stepped closer, looking as amazed as I
felt. “Who taught you?”

“
I don’t
remember.” My brain strained for a memory… any memory. All of a
sudden, an enormous wave of repulsion struck me. I loosened my hold
on the weapon. It fell to the ground with a clear thud. Had my
father taught me? Was there a hidden agenda behind my knowing how
to use a gun? And, again, why couldn’t I remember?

Saul picked
up the gun, placed it in my opened hand. “Hold onto it, just in
case.” He turned to Ethan. “I’ll get Claudia down to the SUB until
you give the all clear, and then I need to get her to a safe
house.”

“Annie’s?” I detected a little surprise in
Ethan’s voice.

Saul shrugged. “Always first choice.”

“You sure about that, mate?”

“I trust Annie. What’s your problem?”

Unmistakable
unease volleyed between them. “I agree, Annie’s the best, but… no,
forget I said anything.”

It was
becoming progressively difficult to determine when the pair were
serious and when they weren’t. “Is there a problem?” I
asked.

“It’s just Ethan looking for one.” That was
Saul sounding suspiciously blasé.

“
I’ll see
what information I can get from these two pieces of shit
before
Scotty takes over,” Ethan said.
“Then meet you at Annie’s with everything we’ve got.” Ethan paused.
“You were right, you know.”

They eyed each other again, silently
communicating. It was becoming extremely annoying.

“What?” I asked. No answer. “Is it possible
just once, that you two could speak plain English for us poor
unfortunate lay people?”

“Ooo… there’s that Italian feistiness again,
mate… ouch!”

Saul wrapped his good arm around my neck.
“Claudia,” his low, creamy voice whispered in my ear. “There are
several things I’d like to do with you right now.” My gut heaved
and crashed. “Bringing you up to speed, being just one of
them.”

That
reminded me of my own
bringing up to speed.

“
But
my only priority right now, is to get you
somewhere safe. Everything else, later. Okay?”

Okay.

Ethan hauled each man alongside the rock.
Even the mammoth appeared less menacing next to Ethan. I didn’t
want to know what Ethan was going to do to them, but frankly, I
didn’t care. These men almost killed Saul, would’ve killed me.

The downhill
climb proved quick and effortless compared to the uphill jaunt. My
concern for Saul, however, was still present. But, considering the
injury he’d sustained, Saul’s resilience was remarkable. His skin
was ashen, his face slightly withered, but his body was otherwise
as physically sharp as his switchblade. His eyes sprinted in all
directions as we coasted down, examining every close section of
bushland.

Maybe this
compulsion of his to keep me from harm’s way fed his determination
and drove his ailing body. I was unsure.

All I knew was that it was damn
unnatural.

When we
returned to the house, armed men and women patrolled the grounds. I
froze. Saul explained he knew them and I eased up. Even so, the
whole thing seemed bizarre.
All these
people here because of me.

A short,
solid
man clothed in black and clutching
a rifle marched over to us. A plum-colored bandana held his shock
of red hair in place.

“
Nice one,
Scotty,” Saul said, tapping his own forehead.

“
A newbie,”
the man
called Scotty, answered. He
flicked a glance at Saul’s wound. “You okay?”

“Fine. Where’s Jenna?”

“Here,” came a strong voice to our rear.

A pretty,
elfin-faced woman appeared, also wearing black, also carrying a
large rifle. Her stern expression, the rigorous way she held
herself made me picture a lethal bullet in high heels.

Saul issued several instructions to
them.

Scotty flicked his finger from his narrow
forehead. “On it Saul, like a tick on a dog.”

And the pair
left. Saul then led me to a large, steel door towards the back of
the house. “What’s this?”

“
Somewhere
safe for now. Until we can leave.” He faltered. Something was
clearly troubling him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Let’s just get inside. I’ll feel better
when you’re not out in the open like this.”

I watched
the compulsive routine to unlock the door. When I entered the room,
I was immediately bowled back. It was like a high tech, concrete
cellblock.

“Is this the part where you tell me you’re
some British spy working for the Secret Service or something?”

Saul chuckled as he closed the door with a
heavy thud. “No, Claudia, not at all.”

“But this room….”

“
It’s handy
at times.” He crossed towards what I guessed was a control panel
and fingered some buttons. Within seconds, several monitors became
alive. On them, I recognized Saul’s driveway, certain sections
adjoining the house, the start of the long track to Saul’s house.
It was impressive.

I edged up
to him. He had now activated a laptop, situated to one side of him,
coding in passwords, maneuvering the mouse, bringing more
technology to life. He glanced sideways at me, possibly detected
the puzzled expression on my face. He ran a soft finger along my
hot cheek, across my opened lips where it lingered for a moment. It
sent mad tremors through me.

“What?” he said. He was semi-sitting on the
edge of the panel.

“
Who
are you?”

A soulful flicker of his eyelids. “No one
important.”

I seriously doubted that.

“
Well then…
who
were
you?”

“Someone I want to forget.”

I touched his face. “Saul….”

His eyes
widened, that unearthly blueness appeared to be swallowed beneath a
shadow of despair, looking not towards me, but to somewhere beyond.
I turned and spotted an electronic whiteboard positioned at the
very back of the room. There were photographs fixed to it… photos
of people. The methodical set-up, though, the flawless handwritten
script beneath them was the eerie bit, like something I would see
on a
CSI
program.

Saul
has a
history….

Ethan’s words now bothered me.

I looked back at Saul. His pained expression
bothered me more. With my chest thudding, I slowly made my way
towards the board, all the time wondering if I was doing the right
thing. Once there, I skimmed over the smiling faces, young and old,
adults and children lined up in some religious order.

I glanced at
Saul again. He remained half-seated, one arm folded across his
chest, head bowed. He said nothing, as silent and as static as the
rigid images before me. The thundering in my chest became almost
unbearable.

“Are they missing?” I said.

“No,” was his only answer.

“Are they dead?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

A slight pause.

“Murdered.”

I drew breath.

“All of them?”

“Yes.”

I felt those horrible, intuitive prickles
scuttle across my skin. “Who are they?”

No answer.

I searched
the still faces, optimistically waiting for one of them to
communicate to me. I inspected the features of the young woman, so
happy, so vibrant, her blonde, flyaway hair framing her pretty
face. Below her image, were two children.

The little boy an absolute replica of the
woman.

Her son, perhaps.

The girl a replica of….

I shrank
back, praying my eyes were playing tricks on me. “She looks
like…
you
.” I half choked.

“
She wanted
to
be
like me.”

An unbelievable horror whacked me
breathless.

Saul
has a
history,
I heard Ethan’s voice
again.
It’s not a good
one
.

Semi-blinded by shock, I searched the other
faces, becoming aware of more physical similarities.

More family.

Saul’s family.

My
god!
I struggled for air, struggled for some form of
composure.